Town of Brookhaven residents can turn in illegal pets

Brookhaven residents illegally harboring pets can turn the animals in without penalty or questions this weekend.

This is the second consecutive year the Brookhaven Highway Department is hosting an amnesty program at the Holtsville Ecology Site to collect unlicensed pets. It will be tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Town officials said they fear some of the pets are either a threat to residents or not properly cared for.

"All too often people will harbor unlicensed or illegal pets without realizing the dangers they pose or the amount of care they require," Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro said in a news release. "This often leads to these animals being dumped by someone who once had it as a pet."

Town officials said a 25-pound alligator snapping turtle was recently found in the Nissequogue River in Smithtown.

The highway department is hosting the event in conjunction with the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

A record 25 animals including four boa constrictors, two marmoset monkeys, an American alligator, a western diamondback rattlesnake and a green anaconda were turned over to the SCPA last year, town officials said.

SEE PHOTOSAnimals on the loose on LI, in NY

"The purpose of this effort is to get these illegally possessed animals into a controlled environment where they can be cared for properly," SPCA Chief Roy Gross said in a news release.

"People who are in possession of these animals unlawfully can turn them in to us without fear of prosecution."

For more information, call the SPCA at 631-382-7722, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation at 631-444-0250 or U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 516-825-3950.